EXCELLENCE IN UNIVERSITY SERVICE

Marquette honored two administrators and two support staff this month as exemplary stewards of Marquette’s mission. The 2006 Excellence in University Service Awards were presented to: Carol T. Dufek, facility and event coordinator in the Law School; Mary E. Kolar, executive administrative assistant in the College of Professional Studies; Mary Jo Kuzma, manager of accounting in the Office of the Comptroller; and Joseph M. Terrian, assistant dean of undergraduate programs in the College of Business Administration.

Carol Dufek, Events coordinator, Law School
Support Staff Award

In nominating Dufek, one colleague wrote: “The success of our great university depends on the accomplishments of thousands of small daily tasks. Carol Dufek -performs many of these essential tasks in a quiet, professional -manner.”
“Try to imagine,” wrote another admirer, “being responsible for the welfare, comfort and general happiness of nearly 700 law students, 100-plus full-time and adjunct faculty, [and] several dozen librarians, administrators and support staff in addition to the vendors, maintenance staff, delivery people and guests who enter Sensenbrenner Hall at anytime of the day or evening seven days a week. This woman must have more than 24 hours in her day to accomplish all she does at work and home and with such good cheer. We are all thankful that she never switched
to decaf.”

Each year, Dufek purchases and collects Christmas gifts for needy families. “Cura personalis,” as one nominator wrote, “has no better poster child than Carol Dufek. She represents all that Marquette stands for.”

Mary Kolar, Executive Administrative Assistant, College of Professional Studies
Support Staff Award

Kolar was described by one nominator as “a compassionate counselor of students in need, a well-organized and highly productive administrator and, perhaps most importantly, a truly inspired team player and friend to all.”

“A student can walk into the department looking as though they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders,” another colleague wrote, “and, after a conversation with Mary . . . they have a noticeably lighter step when they leave.”
Kolar has dashed across Wisconsin Avenue with an important document because she knows it will help allay the worries of a student. She copies course materials for faculty at the last minute. And to the friends of her freshman daughter whose own parents live in far away places, she is a mother figure.

“Humble, gracious, helpful, -caring and wonderful” are the words used by yet another
admirer to describe Kolar.

In nominating Kuzma, one -colleague wrote: “She’ll avoid the spotlight whenever possible. She’ll quietly offer her ideas or advice. She’s a mentor for our student employees and a confidante for many of her peers. She regularly volunteers to help greet students on Arrival Day, serves beverages or helps the photographer at the Support Staff picnic, and readily lends a hand when asked, preferably in the background. A longtime member of the COA, she serves and interacts with almost every department on campus. She’s a rock in the Comptroller’s Office and willingly shares her knowledge and expertise.”

Another nominator wrote of Kuzma’s mentorship of the students who work in the Comptroller’s Office, calling her “a consistent teacher of the Marquette way.”
Still another colleague observed that Kuzma is quick to help a colleague, “even if she answered the same question from the same person the day before.”

Joe Terrian, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs,
College of Business Administration
Administrator Award

Terrian serves as the primary adviser for every undergraduate student in the college. He is, in the words of one nominator, “the one person who parents and students can, from the first minute of their Marquette experience through graduation, trust to deliver personal care, help instill values and oversee their -journey.”

Terrian is there for his students, every step of the way, right through Commencement. In fact, he plans the college’s graduation ceremony and personally shakes every graduating senior’s hand. He’s there in bad times too. When a business administration student suffered a serious injury, he rushed to the hospital. Upon hearing that Terrian was present, the student insisted on seeing him right away.

Terrian is revered by his colleagues, too. “We often quip in the office that
Joe T. is Marquette,” wrote one admirer. “He brings unity to the college and smiles to all who have contact with him.”